Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Shiloh Greathouse and Steve Cales



Some classic footage from the New World Order days. Looks like Socrates Leal is gonna release a bunch of clips from back in the day. So sick! Keep and eye on this youtube channel for other cutting room floor clips.

Friday, December 16, 2011

SLB + Clyde


Sal Barbier interview right here and a Clyde Singleton interview here. Both good reads.

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Guy Mariano's top five graphics


Guy Mariano talks about his top 5 graphics of all time. Check it out here. Stoked I had Guy's Claudia Schiffer board back in the day. Super sick board. I remember skating it at this crappy indoor park so it was definitely winter time. And coincidentally, Guy is featured on Chrome ball today.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Weird nose slide photo


Back in 94 or 95, my friend Felix took this photo of me doing a nose slide at 240 Sparks in Ottawa and my truck is falling off mid slide. I had some terrible Standard Trucks hardware. Remember that lame company?

Friday, December 2, 2011

Montreal's Big O saved



This story about the president of the Montreal Impact soccer team moving the Big O spot rather than destroying it is beyond amazing. I skated it a few times back in the early 90's and it's no joke. The transition is super tight and when you see the locals shredding it, it's a big "Wow" moment.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Menace Epicly Laterd



The first time I heard of Menace was May 1994 at the first Slam City Jam contest. I had just finished my exams and wanted to get out of town and skate. Jody Morris, who grew up just outside of Ottawa, had moved out to Vancouver a few year prior and was on staff with TWS. He was maintaining two residences at the time... one in Cali and one in Van. I had kept in contact with him over the years so I called him up and he suggested I come out. I showed up a few days before the contest and hooked up with him and Kareem, who was also staying at Jody's place. It was pretty strange to be tagging along with these guys. Menace was barely off the ground at the time... all they had were shirts (the one with the star on the front and "Menace all stars" on the back. Gino is wearing one in the line at 1:03). Joey, Fabian and Eric were all there for the contest. Kareem gave me one of those shirts, which was pretty cool, and he won the contest that weekend which was even more cool.

It's interesting to see this retrospective of how Menace started out. I was never a huge fan of the team or the image but they were a part of the Rocco empire so I did end up riding my fair share of their boards. I never lived in the ghetto or inner city with no money. Quite the opposite actually... I grew up in the burbs and my family was well enough off. Hopefully we get to hear Kareem's side of things. Joey's comment on them not being the best or most innovative but having the "image" was bang on!

Keep an eye on VBS for the rest of the episodes.